Revelations
by Angry Santo
Summary: A small miracle opened the eyes of Tohsaka Tokiomi.


And it is that time of the year again.

We all got fat from turkey.

We now will get fat from candy.

Or in the case of my beautiful Mexican ass. Tamales.

And as the same old Christmas specials plague tv. We will see the repetition of this particular story, with infinite variations.

Allow me to present to you, the people for whom I write, Santo's variation of the Christmas Carol.

With that said.

Strategic Snippet Bomb! /( . □.)\ ︵Σ旦︵ /(.□ . \)

My sister got mad at me. [;A;]

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Tohsaka Tokiomi stood on his study, he swirled the wine in the glass as he gazed out into the night sky.

"Tohsaka Tokiomi." Said a bitter baritone. "Always drinking your wine, the _personification_ of class."

Tokiomi turned to see who it was that addressed him so, his unbelieving eyes falling on the form of Matou Kariya.

Tokiomi immediately reached for his cane and aimed the Ruby upon it at the magus.

Kariya continued without giving him a chance to speak.

"Oh don't bother. I'm already dead." Kariya smirked. "What you _should_ be worried about is why we are even speaking at all? Well whatever, come, there are things you must see."

With that Kariya turned and began to shuffle out the door of Tokiomi's study.

"And what makes you think I have the smallest desire to follow you, Matou Kariya?" Asked Tokiomi, the contempt in his voice clear for all to see.

Kariya turned, instinctively only showing Tokiomi the right half of his face. "You speak as if you had a choice."

Without warning the walls faded away.

"What is this Matou Kariya!?" Demanded Tokiomi as he summoned a shield of fire, not unlike the one he had used when he burnt Kariya to death.

Or, as he had thought he did.

Kariya ignored his question. "It's funny y'kno? I haven't died _yet_. But I'm already here, already dead. Perhaps…perhaps I've been dead this whole time? Perhaps I died upon that day." Said Kariya wistfully.

"You died the moment you abandoned the path of the Magus, you failure." Stated Tokiomi as he brought the shield down and stepped forward.

Kariya snorted. "The only thing I wish is that I'd done it earlier."

The blankness around them shifted, changed. Within moments they were both standing in a park, the most resplendent sunset bathing the streets, coloring them a muted red.

Kariya shuffled away, purpose on his steps.

Tokiomi retracted his magical senses. Whatever this hypnotism was, it was not caused by magecraft. Seeing as to he was being left behind, and with nothing better to do, Tokiomi followed Kariya, walking at an elegant pace.

Due to the fact that he had two working legs. He caught up to Kariya in no time at all.

"What do you want to show me Matou Kariya?" Asked Tokiomi imperiously. "Let us get this farce over with so I may continue my work."

Kariya stopped and stared up the road. "Me, me, me. It's always 'me' with you. You never stop to think about others, you never even _try_ to understand others. All you do, all you are, is 'me, me, me.' Has it ever occurred to you, that maybe,_ just maybe, _I am doing this for me?"

Tokiomi grinned slightly. "If you were doing this for yourself, you would not have brought me along for this farce. Now speak quickly, for my time is precious."

Kariya sighed. "You fool…time is all you have…yet truly…maybe I _am_ luckier."

Tokiomi opened his mouth to answer, before the words choked in his throat. Over Kariya's shoulder he could see Aoi. The thought that she had been taken in order to be used against him filled him with dread.

"Are you fine with it?" Asked a younger version of Kariya. Causing Tokiomi to blink.

"What is this?" Asked Tokiomi.

"My memory." Answered Kariya. "Just look at her…that demure smile. I wanted to shout at her not to marry you…I wanted to berate her for the idiocy that she was about to commit. I wanted to scream, to truly tell her what would happen if she went on with it."

Aoi gave a small nod, as if apologizing, but blushing with shyness.

Kariya's voice became strangled with emotion, but he barreled forward nonetheless. "But I couldn't, I could not bring myself to be the one to take that smile from her."

The phantom of Aoi bowed to the black haired Kariya and began to walk away, the eyes of both Kariyas following her every step.

"This…this here…is where I died. Where you took everything from me. You had all that I ever wanted Tohsaka. The most beautiful wife, two beautiful children, the strength to watch over them." Kariya turned, glaring at Tokiomi with his one working eye, when next he spoke, he spat his hatred at the man before him. "And yet what did you do with it? You squandered it. Threw it to the mud and stepped on it, not even aware of the priceless treasure you left behind."

Tokiomi's right eyebrow climbed almost all the way to his hairline. "Your words scream ignorance Kariya. I've done the best I could as a Magus, I've ensured Sakura's bright future, and Rin's supremacy. I've done well by my daughters, as well as any father in my position could have."

Kariya began to laugh. It was a laugh devoid of humor, a bitter laugh filled with hatred and sorrow. "I don't know." Said Kariya as he chortled. "If I should hate you, or pity you."

Tokiomi narrowed his eyes.

"But it doesn't matter anymore." Continued Kariya as he turned around. The scenery losing color, disappearing slowly. Kariya's body lost solidity with every passing second, perfectly matching the pace of the dissolving memory. His last words were spoken right as he disappeared. They were quiet, yet resounded like thunder, echoing from everywhere and nowhere. "It's much too late…for both of us."

Tokiomi stared at the place where Kariya disappeared. Anger seething below his calm façade like fire and brimstone running just below the surface of the ground.

"You were a wonderful instructor, Tohsaka Tokiomi." Said the deep voice of Kotomine Kirei, directly behind Tokiomi. Causing the magus to jump and whirl around.

Kirei continued before Tokiomi could speak. "But for all your prowess as an instructor…as a teacher, you fell woefully short." Kirei's eyes held a deep melancholy, a misery the likes of which Tokiomi had never seen in the three years he had been associated with the man.

"Kirei? What do you mean? Just _where_ are we?" Asked Tokiomi, starting to become frustrated. "What is going on? Where you caught in whatever trap this is?"

Kirei stared at Tokiomi, the grief in his eyes deepening. "You mean…you don't know? You are truly unaware?"

Tokiomi exhaled noisily. "Do I not know _what_? We have important things to do Kirei. We need to break out of whatever trap this is!"

Kirei chuckled, the sound resounding from his throat held all the mirth of a despairing sob. "My instructor…it is…unimportant. Believe me when I tell you, it is perhaps a blessing that you are unaware."

"Unaware of what Kirei?" Asked Tokiomi, having regained his poise from the momentary lapse he had suffered.

Kirei shook his head. "No teacher…It does not fall to me to give a mirror to a man with no face. I implore you, come, there is something you must see." Said Kirei as he turned around and began to walk at a sedate pace.

Tokiomi sighed and followed.

The blankness around them changed once more, colors swirled together as the two walked, coalescing into a floor, walls, ceiling.

Tokiomi quickly recognized the room. It was where he had recruited Kirei's help three years before.

"The pattern that has appeared on your right hand is called the 'Command Seals'. It is the proof that you are chosen by the Grail." Said an image of Tohsaka Tokiomi, speaking to Kotomine Kirei and Risei. The phantoms continued their conversation, completely uncaring of the two standing in their midst.

"Kirei…Why do you show me this?" Asked Tokiomi as he saw himself explain things to Kirei.

Kotomine Kirei made a shushing motion and walked to his own phantom.

"Kirei, you think you shouldn't have been selected, don't you?" Said Tokiomi's phantom. Kirei's phantom nodded, while Kirei himself grimaced and spoke.

"This is where I was doomed." Said Kirei, that same melancholy ever present in his tone. "This was the declaration that sealed my Fate. Look at me. I was a man seeking instruction. I wanted direction, a _purpose_." Kirei turned and stared into Tokiomi's eyes, even though his tone gained a heated edge, the grief in his eyes did not disappear. "I knew the demon I could be, and wanted to be saved. All but shouted it at the top of my lungs. I implored someone to take my hand and draw me from darkness."

"…an executor of the Church who would acquire command Seals would back up the Tohsaka. In other words, the Grail is giving me, a Tohsaka, two shares of command Seals, and for that, it chose you as a Master!" Stated Tokiomi's phantom with iron hard conviction. Kirei's phantom nodding a few moments later.

Kotomine Kirei's hands formed fists, he stood still for several moments, completely immobile save for his trembling fists. He then exhaled nosily, seeming to deflate completely. It was the sigh of a man who accepted the descent of the guillotine. "You were the closest thing I had to a lifeline. The absolute last hope."

Tokiomi was astounded at the change in his disciple. "Kirei…what do you mean? You agreed with me, the Grail sought for the Tohsaka's destiny to be realized. What darkness do you speak of Kirei? You were the best disciple I could have hoped for!"

Kirei started to chuckle again, a man laughing at his approaching doom. "So…even in these last moments you still refuse to see. Well…it does not matter anymore." Kirei began to walk toward Tokiomi who, for a reason he could not discern, felt a pain in his chest, as if something were taking a hold of his heart.

He soon realized what that feeling was.

Fear.

With every step Kirei took, the scenery around them dissolved. The walls melted down into the floor as the ceiling simply ceased to be and the ground beneath them disappeared. Kirei reached Tokiomi, who shivered at the other man's proximity.

"Now? Now it is much too late." Said Kirei as he walked past his instructor. "Too late…for the both of us."

Tokiomi took several moments to reign in his fear and compose himself before turning around. "Again Kirei what do yo-?" The question died in his throat as he saw that his disciple was no longer with him.

He looked about himself, trying his best to spot his disciple, yet surrounding him was but a large field of nothing. It was not a blindness caused by a lack of light, for he could see his limbs just fine. There was an ambient light to this nothingness, this void.

It was simply that he was surrounded by…nothing.

Tokiomi grit his teeth in an uncharacteristic show of anger.

"Good evening father, it has been a long time." Said the mellifluous voice of a young lady next to him. Such was his anger that he was no longer startled, Tokiomi turned at an appropriately sedate pace to see who had addressed him.

Standing before him was a beautiful young lady. She had long lavender hair, a color matched by her eyes. She wore a pale pink sweater that, while far from indecent, did a good job of accentuating her figure.

"Or perhaps," Continued the young woman with a small smile. "Perhaps it has only been a few days for you?"

Tokiomi could not shake a feeling of familiarity that emanated from this young woman. The shape of her ears, the line of her jaw, the shape of her cheeks. He would recognize those anywhere, he saw them in the mirror every day after all.

His eyes widened as he was finally able to place her. "S-Sakura?" Asked Tokiomi incredulously.

The only response Sakura gave was a slow nod, the ever present smile on her face unchanging.

Tokiomi stared at his daughter for a long time until he was able to regain his composure. "M-My, Sakura, you've…grown. Is that what this is? A vision of the future?"

Sakura blinked a few times before tilting her head to the side. "Perhaps father, who can say? I had thought it to be a vision of the past.

"But maybe…maybe it is both at the same time?"

Tokiomi chuckled as he lay a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Well, let us not waste this golden chance, _speak_, how did you and Rin fare? What was the result of all of my hard work?"

Sakura's sad smile widened a little. "That is not a question to which you'd want an answer father, but it seems…it seems that it falls to me to open your eyes."

Once more, the blankness began to change in what was now a familiar process to Tokiomi.

However, something was wrong. The place where Sakura took him was not one he would willingly inhabit. It was dark, dank, and dreary. The smell of sewage heavy upon it. He peeked down the edge of the balcony he stood upon, and saw a large basement filled with writhing worms.

Before Tokiomi could do more than grunt in disgust, Sakura spoke. "This was my training room." Sakura released an amused chuckle. "This is where I lost everything. Did you know that I lost my virginity to a worm before I was even ten? I hated every moment of it."

Tokiomi swallowed the bile rising up his throat. "But what were the fruits Sakura? There are families that would do much worse to their heirs. This was not done without meaning or purpose. This must have borne some type of fruit." Asked Tokiomi with forced neutrality.

Sakura turned to him, that same smile still on her face. "Most assuredly." She said as she turned her lifeless eyes down into the worm pit. "I hate magecraft."

The three words she spoke caused Tokiomi to choke.

"I hate magi." Continued Sakura mercilessly, each of her statements causing Tokiomi to flinch as if he had been struck. "I hate my sister. I hate my grandfather. I hate myself…There is a lot that I hate." She turned back up to Tokiomi and met his eye, that small smile remaining unchanged. "But I don't hate you father.

"You held good intentions in your heart father. For that you have my thanks."

Tokiomi's mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water as the horrid place dissolved around them. When he spoke, his voice was choked, a frantic, pleading edge evident upon it. "B-But I…how can-?"

Before he could continue the world around them changed once more, settling into the Kotomine church.

Standing near the podium were two people, one he immediately recognized as Kotomine Kirei. He looked older, there were more lines on his face, his hair long and untidy when compared to the short and serviceable cut he preferred. There was something else off about him however.

Kirei all but radiated a savage glee, a cruel light glinting in his eyes.

Standing beside Kirei was a young man that Tokiomi could not place. He had a messy mop of red hair, he stood ramrod straight, staring intently at a door to the back of the church.

Tokiomi caught a glimpse of the young man's eyes.

They were empty.

Tokiomi could feel it, the young man standing before him was an abomination. Something that was simply _wrong_. There was no humanity in him, what stood there was a monster wearing the shape of Man.

"…What's there to look forward to? Are you predicting who will win?" Asked the young man, the priest beside him breaking out into a wide, satisfied smile.

"Predict? There is no need to predict." Said Kirei, the cruel smile on his face becoming wider. "You will win. Since you have cast away Matou Sakura, you will use any means possible to kill Matou Zouken, Ilyasviel, and Rin." Tokiomi's eyes widened at the last name uttered by Kirei. "I am saying I am looking forward to how this will end."

"Sakura what…what is this? What does this mean?" Asked Tokiomi, absolute confusion showing on his features.

Sakura turned to Tokiomi. "The boy is Emiya Shirou, adopted son of Kiritsugu, the victor of the fourth holy grail war." Sakura turned back to the young man, watching as he conversed with the priest. "The war you did not survive."

Tokiomi made a gurgling sound.

"I was violated...tainted...played with. I became a danger both to the populace and the secrecy of magecraft. My beloved sister…put me down like a rabid animal. The boy that I loved, my one shining hope, simply asking to take her place."

"Y-Your potential. B-But your p-potential." Stuttered Tokiomi with the desperation of a man grasping at a piece of driftwood.

Sakura turned back to him, the ever present smile on her face wavering for the first time. "Squandered, simple as that."

Tokiomi stared around, like a cornered rat seeking an exit. "B-But e-even so. Rin will-!"

"Of course." Interrupted the phantom of Kotomine Kirei. "You are Emiya Kiritsugu now. There is no way you cannot win." His declaration made, Kirei turned and began to walk away. His heavy steps echoing around the church like a funeral toll.

"Rin will not survive the week." Whispered Sakura, her voice for the first time showing a hint of grief. "She will become obsessed; she will _need_ to become the perfect magus. And that boy will use that against her." Sakura turned to Tokiomi, a small tear glittering on the edge of her eye even as that ever present smile refused to fade. "The last Tohsaka will die one week from tonight."

Tokiomi stared long and hard at Sakura, and failed to see the young man stride away with purpose in his step. Tokiomi failed to even notice the world once more dissolved around them.

When he spoke, his voice was soft. "I…I will fix this." As he spoke, his voice gained both tenor and strength. "I will use this vision and change for the better! I will take you back! Win the grail!

"I will make sure this never happens!" Tokiomi punctuated his declaration by striking the 'ground' with his cane, a burst of fire expanding around him in a subconscious gesture fueled by his anger.

Sakura gave him a pitying look, her smile for the first time dissipating, leaving her face that of an expressionless doll.

"Father…don't you get it? It is far too late.

"For the both of us."

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"Hn—what a disappointing ending."

A condescending expression seeped out of those red pupils. Archer nudged the corpse of his former Master with the tip of his foot.

"I was anticipating he would make a last retaliation before death. Look at his expression. Completely at a loss. He was not aware of his own stupidity even till the end."

"That was because his Servant was in spirit form at his side. It was not illogical for him to let his guard down."

Hearing Kirei's quip, Archer began to laugh loudly.

"Already, you have learned to make jokes? Kirei, your progress is truly great."

The two continued to talk, Tokiomi forgotten at their feet.

Were they to pay closer attention, they would see that the magus still clung to life, a panicked light emanating from his eyes.

Slowly, oh so very slowly, that light dimmed.

And was no more.


End file.
